Dragon Year Losar eCard Greetings

This is that time of year when a lot of people are out on the internet using their search engines to locate sources of Losar e-cards. I know it’s true. Never mind how. But I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to look at some of the rest of Tibeto-logic while you are here. I've put up blogs about the Tibetan New Year (Lo-gsar) a couple of times in the past. In 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and now this. So as you see, it’s become a bit of a tradition. Well, as traditions go, Losar eCards, not to mention Losar cards of any kind, are not very old ones. Most of you probably already know my philosophy about Losar e-cards, which is that they are so much nicer if you give your card a personal touch, even better if you do the artwork yourself (just do something artistic and when it’s done, scan it or make a digital photo so you can then attach it), and best if you don’t overdo the photoshop possibilities like I did. If you want to see what it looked like before I pushed a blue button maybe I shouldn’t have, look just below. If you want to use one of these, be my guest. Just slide it off the blog and onto an open email, then drop it. That should work. But I suggest doing an image search for “dragon” to see if anything out there inspires you. There is a lot of fantastic dragon art to be found.*

(*but please don‘t send your friends e-photos of dragons printed on human skin... You know, tattoos. They may get wrong ideas. But I don’t really know your friends, now, do I?  Try this color-your-own dragon at Himalayan Art. Have a look at these very impressive dragon artworks, but perhaps these are more fit for use, well, some of them at least.)

I doubt anyone has noticed yet, but Tibeto-logic has been up and growing for several years now. It has visitors from all over the world. Even readers from the Peoples Republic have been showing up again of late (they aren’t supposed to, I understand). The first post was in August 2006, and the number of posts has climbed to more or less one hundred by now. I’m not sure what number this one will be exactly.  Number 98 or 99, I think. I’m aware that some of the blog entries are rather technically Tibetological, and if that is not exactly your cup of tea, I must apologize for them. Some may find it curious to learn that Tibeto-logic’s by far most frequently read blog is one with the title, “The Monkey and the Croc/Turtle.”* The reason for its popularity, I gradually came to understand, was because school children in the Philippines are sometimes required to write about this story, since it was once studied in a brief publication by José Rizal (1861-1896), a national hero of theirs. He compared the Japanese and Philippine versions, and concluded that the Philippine was more original. I sort of wonder how many cut-and-paste versions of this blog have been slapped on the teachers' desks on “assignment due” date.

(*The 2nd most-read blog is one on the Tibetan Olympics of 1695.)

Oh, and Losar is officially slated for the 22nd of February to the best of my knowledge (there are places that celebrate it at different dates for different reasons). So there’s still plenty of time to get your card ready. Just don’t put it off too long, you hear me?

(*Were you wondering about the poster? It’s been on my wall since around the mid-1980's, after a time in Kathmandu. It’s right up there above me at this very moment watching over what’s going on down here. To tell the truth, it doesn’t look like the Tibetan world has much to celebrate, and if you don’t know why, it means you haven’t been following the news. I’m of the opinion that Losar ought to be observed, even when it can’t be celebrated.)

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